Four face trial in Mexico-to-Lehigh Valley meth ring, judge rules

Four accused of having major role in ring are ordered to face trial in Lehigh County Court.

Pawel Gajewski is led into the Lehigh Valley Courthouse for his hearing… (MICHAEL KUBEL, THE MORNING…)

July 24, 2013|By Manuel Gamiz Jr., Of The Morning Call

After almost three days of testimony, a Lehigh County district judge ruled four of the alleged main players in a 23-person drug ring that police say brought methamphetamine from Mexico to the Lehigh Valley must face trial.

Gary J. Kuehner, 32, of Allentown; James Schwar, 35, of Red Hill, Montgomery County; and Maria C. Wahlfield, 49, of San Diego are charged with a number of drug offenses and participating in a corrupt organization, which authorities say also dealt marijuana.

District Judge David M. Howells dismissed two drug-dealing charges against Kuehner, who faces 17 other felony counts.

Before the start of Wednesday's preliminary hearing, drug ring suspect Pawel Gajewski, 36, of Weisenberg Township, gave up his right to a hearing and his case was sent to Lehigh County Court.

The state attorney general's office alleges the drug ring brought millions of dollars' worth of meth and marijuana into the Lehigh Valley over the past five years.

Authorities have identified Schwar as Kuehner's marijuana supplier and Gajewski as his meth supplier. Gajewski got the meth from Wahlfield, state agents said.

For much of the three-day hearing, which began in early June and continued Wednesday, lawyers for the four defendants argued about the meanings of wiretapped phone conversations that authorities say helped take down the drug ring.

Agent Thomas Sedor with the attorney general's office deciphered dozens of phone conversations and offered his expert opinion on what was being discussed. In some conversations, code words such as "cousin" or "Bubba" were used to refer to marijuana and "dubious" was used to refer to meth, he testified.

On Wednesday, prosecutors played phone conversations between Gajewski and Wahlfield.

Wahlfield, Sedor testified, received large amounts of meth from her connection in Mexico and took it to Las Vegas, where it was shipped by truck to Gajewski at a Lower Macungie Township hotel.

Sedor testified detectives in Las Vegas conducted surveillance on a meeting involving Gajewski, Wahlfield and an unidentified man. During this meeting, Sedor alleges, a meth transaction was made.

Before the drugs were distributed in the Lehigh Valley, Sedor said, 14 ounces of meth were intercepted by agents June 19, 2012, at the Lower Macungie hotel. A day later, Gajewski, upset about the seizure, "re-ups" with Wahlfield, ordering additional meth and asking her if she can score him some heroin, Sedor testified.

All of the attorneys argued no drugs were ever found on their clients and some of them didn't even know one another. Joshua Karoly, Kuehner's attorney, and Charles Laputka, Schwar's attorney, both said their clients didn't know Wahlfield, yet they were all allegedly tied to the same corrupt organization.

On July 5, 2012, police and agents with the attorney general's office raided several locations, including Kuehner's and Schwar's homes, seizing 103 handguns and rifles, $49,000, six cars, four motorcycles, an all-terrain vehicle and drug paraphernalia.

Nineteen others charged in the drug ring have either waived their hearings or have been ordered to face trial. Among them are John Kerstetter, 38, and his wife, Kimberly Kerstetter, 39, former owners of Magnolia's Vineyard restaurant in South Whitehall Township and former part-owners of the Trapp Door Gastropub in Emmaus.

Authorities say they discovered more than 200 plants in a complex marijuana-growing operation in the Kerstetters' South Whitehall home.